The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-06
THREE FAMOUS WOMEN.
A FEW POINTS SHOWING ON WHAT
THEIR FAME IS BASED.


Paradise Park the Place Where Chill
dren are to be Seen in All Their
loneliness Some of the Ways They
are Entertained.
New York, Nov. 5.-There are three
famous women in New York now. Two of
them base their fame entirely upon noto-
riety and newspaper comment. The third
owes all her eminence and celebrity to her
art 1t dominates everything else, She
has been four times married, and has been
the heroine of many sensational episodes
encounters and anecdotes, but the brllllancy,
cleverness and genius of Ellen Terry have
dwarfed all other factors in her fame, ana
she is known as an actress pure and simple.
Mr.. Irving creates no such sensation when
he goes abroad as does his charming part
ner and colleague. People stare with more
or less interest at the long-haired and dis
tinguished looking Englishman, but when
Miss Terry comes along they stop ana loi-
low her as far as the eye can reach. They
dwell on her beautiful and mobile face with
something akin to affection. She is not
success of curiosity nor an object OF
newspaper talk. To-day when the English
actress stopped TO gaze into shop window
on Broadway she was almost instantly sur
rounded by a crowd of eager observers.
But they stood some distance aloof from
her and were respectful and admlring
When she walked toward the curb the
crowd parted right and left, and dozen
hands were outstretched to open her carriage
door.
1t was very different from the attention
that is usually paid to Mrs. Laugtry. When
the latter ventures abroad she is on parade
Men stare at her, and women crowd close
around. They cluster around the stage
door, so that she has to push her way
through them. Politeness is not apparent
in such throngs 1t seems to be universally
felt that notorious personage is abroad,
and that it is every man right to stare anu
jostle to the limit of the law.
Langtry is too big, too broad, too mascu-
line for the taste to-day. Thepubllc wants
its favorites lean. Bernhardt has reversed
the fashion. Robust beauties are shelved.
Miss Terry, like Bernhardt, is thin, supple
and graceful Mrs. Potter falls under the
same category, being by far the more girl
ish and shapely of all the famous women.
The Langtry is no longer the lily; she Is a
sunflower-the cactus of the garden. There
is'the difference between her and Mrs. Pot
ter that there is between the modest violet
and the sturdy thistle. Mrs Langtry acts
with the force of robust and muscular
woman, and she dies on the stage like an
athlete l everything she is big, powerful
and determined. She has fought her battle
well, and she has had her reward, for she is
a woman of great wealth and with pros
porous future still before her But she Is
no longer queen
The Ianctry boom is at an end. She has
held her supremacy for eight years in the
newspapers of the world. London took her
ND first but grew tired of her when she re-
turned to the English metropolis two years
ago. Then she came back to us, but the
feeling grew apa thai the Langtry was
bit "passen The shrewdest and best judges
of such matters, the New York theatrical
managers, saw that Mrs Potter was the
coming star Such men as Abbey, Gil
more and Stetson, who are always ahead OF
the times, made every effort to seizure Mrs.
Potter's services long before that lady de
cided absolutely to go on the professional
stage Finally she took the plunge, and the
contest between the rival managers grew
more rabid than ever just at the most
critical period of Mrs. Langtrys career, be
fore she has become really capable actress,
and wher he fame as beauty is beginning
to dim Mrs Potter comes upon the field
The success of the Langtry's rival is com.
plete. Potter has appeared She is beauti-
full, graceful and suave. She does not know
how to act but then what has that to do
with an actress of the sensational type now
adaysl
Society was on hand at Mrs. Potter's
debut and it applauded. 1t was not par
ticularly impressed. 1t never is. 1t simply
smiled and patronized its former leader in q
gentle and well bred manner. When the
play grew tragic, society smiled its boredom
carelessly away and chatted without the
slightest regard for the very small section
of the audience that cared to follow the in
tricate and INDUSTRIOUS absurdities of the
drama. The Potter gowns were stunning,
and the Potter was &c. she has refine
ment, and it is genuine. The play in which
she appeal. ghast,, in its ahsurdities
and tiresonle III its 's.kiness. But all these
things wei~ overlooked by a throng of the
representative people of New York who
recognized an ambitious woman's effort TO
achieve fame and fortune and applauded
her on her way, because she had for many
years amused society without a thought of
the trouble-without asking any other COM
pensation than smiles and compliments
Mrs. Potter is to-day as good an actress as
Mrs. Langtry, and immeasurably better
than Mrs. Langtry was when she first ap-
peared on the New York stage This, to be
sure, is not saying much, but it is all that
can be truthfully said.
BLAKELY HALL
mi. -.